Gasification Systems

The DOE Gasification Systems Program is developing innovative modular designs for converting diverse types of coal into clean synthesis gas to enable the low-cost production of electricity, transportation fuels, chemicals, hydrogen, and other useful products to suit market needs. Advancements in this area will help enable advanced power generation and other syngas-based technologies to be competitive in both domestic and international markets, and spur on the use of abundant domestic coal resources, in turn contributing towards increased energy security and reviving depressed markets in traditional coal-producing regions of the United States.

Explore Key Technology Areas

The research and development efforts of the Gasification Systems Program apply primarily to four key technology areas, advances in which will best contribute towards increased efficiency, enable cost reductions, and support greenhouse gas reductions of modular gasification/syngas-based systems. These four technology areas are: (1) Process Intensification for Syngas, (2) Air Separation Technology, (3) Coal-Biomass to Liquids, and (4) Negative Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

Research addresses control of chemical reactions in increasingly modular and intrinsically efficient reactors, allowing for smaller reactors and streamlined process systems for gasification of coal into syngas, syngas cleanup, and syngas conversion.

The Gasification Systems Program pursues technology advancements in these areas through on-site work at NETL, and by external funding opportunities resulting in a suite of projects performed by industry, academia, and other National Laboratories, and overseen by NETL.